There are more and more women on election lists, but it cannot be expected that by 2020, the United Nations' expectation that 40 percent of them will be in the political life of Montenegro and in the parliament will be fulfilled.
The Women's Political Network, which consists of activists from 16 political parties, last night presented proposals on how to move towards greater representation of women at all levels of government and structures of society, requesting, among other things, that its representatives be part of the parliamentary temporary committee that will deal with changes to the electoral legislation.
Representatives of the government and the opposition agree that greater participation of women in political life can be achieved by amending the electoral law.
The representative of the Women's Political Network, Marija Ćatović (DPS), said that they have prepared a proposal, with which they request that 0 percent be allocated from the budget for financing parties for their activities, and that all parties that include a large number of women on the lists of councilors or deputies, they get a higher percentage of the money.
Ćatović said that they are fighting for each party to have a larger number of women on the electoral lists, which they will try to ensure by amending the electoral law. "We also asked that one of the women from the Women's Political Network, which is made up of women from all parties, be an observer in the working group, with the fact that she does not have the right to vote, but can make remarks," Ćatović pointed out to "Vijesti".
She said that the proposal of the Women's Political Network was supported by DPS president Milo Đukanović and almost all party leaders.
Ćatović pointed out that she cannot guarantee whether by 2020 there will be 40 percent of women in the political life of Montenegro and in the parliament, but that there will certainly be more of them than there are now.
Đukanović, President of the Assembly and SD Ivan Brajović, as well as the leaders of other ruling parties and part of the opposition attended the presentation of demands for equality of women on electoral lists at Imanja Knjaz last night. The gender equality project has been argued for years by UNDP with the support of the European Union, whose head of delegation Aivo Orav was also present last night.
Democratic Montenegro spokeswoman Anđela Peković told "Vijesta" that equal representation of women cannot realistically be expected until 2010, as parliamentary and local elections will be organized for the first time with the new electoral legislation:
"And now we do not recognize such a political atmosphere among the majority of actors on the political scene of Montenegro, which would give realistic hopes for optimism that this would happen in the next two years. It is more realistic that this expectation of the UN is fulfilled in the next election cycle", said Peković.
Independent MP Aleksandar Damjanović proposed amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, which, among other things, provides for the equality of men and women on electoral lists. Since the end of March, since the proposal has been in the procedure, deputies of the parliamentary majority have refused to include it on the agenda three times.
The representative of the women's political network, Snežana Jonica, said last night that they submitted a proposal to the Assembly and are waiting for a response, to be observers in the working group.
That things are slowly changing is shown by the fact that a female candidate participated in the last presidential election, that in 2011 there were 11 percent of women in the Assembly, and today it is 24 percent. Back then, there were only eight percent of women in local parliaments, now they are around 26 percent.
In European parliaments, 85 percent of women are the target of harassment
Sexism, abuse and violence against women are widespread in parliaments across Europe, according to a study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The survey, which was published on Tuesday, showed that 85 percent of women MPs experienced psychological violence in parliament, and that women MPs under the age of 40 are more likely to be the target of harassment.
"As long as inequality between women and men persists, no woman will be protected from violence and harassment," said PACE Chair Liliane Mori Pasquier. The study states that in 69 percent of cases, the perpetrators were male MPs.
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